Method for producing glucose dehydrogenase from aspergillus oryzae

ABSTRACT

The present invention effectively produces glucose dehydrogenase derived from  Aspergillus oryzae , and provides more practical glucose dehydrogenase.  
     The invention makes it possible to efficiently produce glucose dehydrogenase and to obtain glucose dehydrogenase in more practical manner by using a glucose dehydrogenase gene isolated from  Aspergillus oryzae.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a gene encoding glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae and a method for producing the glucose dehydrogenase by gene recombination.

BACKGROUND ART

Self-monitoring of blood glucose is important for a patient with diabetes to figure out a usual blood glucose level in the patient and apply it to treatment. An enzyme taking glucose as a substrate is utilized for a sensor used for the self-monitoring of blood glucose. An example of such an enzyme includes, for example, glucose oxidase (EC. 1.1.3.4). Glucose oxidase is advantageous in that it has high specificity for glucose and is excellent in thermal stability, and thus has been used as the enzyme for a blood glucose sensor from a long time ago. Its first publication goes back 40 years ago. In the blood glucose sensor using glucose oxidase, the measurement is performed by transferring electrons produced in a process of oxidizing glucose to convert into D-glucono-δ-lactone to an electrode via a mediator. However, glucose oxidase easily transfers protons produced in the reaction to oxygen, and thus dissolved oxygen affects the measured value, which has been problematic.

In order to avoid such a problem, for example, NAD(P)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (EC. 1.1.1.47) or pyrrolo-quinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (EC. 1.1.5.2; former EC. 1.1.99.17) is used as the enzyme for the blood glucose sensor. They dominates in that they are not affected by dissolved oxygen, but the former NAD(P)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase has the poor stability and requires the addition of the coenzyme. Meanwhile, the latter pyrrolo-quinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase is inferior in substrate specificity, reacts with other sugars such as maltose and lactose and thus correctness of the measured value is impaired.

In Non-patent documents 1 to 4, glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae has been reported, but no glucose dehydrogenase gene has been reported. In Non-patent documents 1 to 4, it has not been described to produce the glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae by gene recombination.

Non-patent literature 1: Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 1967 Jul. 11; 139(2):265-76

Non-patent literature 2: Biochim. Biophys. Acta., 1967 Jul. 11; 139(2):277-93

Non-patent literature 3: Biochim Biophys Acta.146(2):317-27

Non-patent literature 4: Biochim Biophys Acta.146(2):328-35

In Patent document 1, flavin-binding type glucose dehydrogenase derived from genus Aspergillus has been disclosed. This enzyme dominates in that this is excellent in substrate specificity and is not affected by the dissolved oxygen. For the thermal stability, it has been described that a residual activity ratio after being treated at 50° C. for 15 minutes is about 89% and this enzyme is excellent in thermal stability (hereinafter also described as heat resistance). In Patent document 2, a gene sequence and an amino acid sequence of that enzyme have been reported.

Patent document 1: WO2004/058958

Patent document 2: WO2006/101239

Recently, a complete genome sequence of Aspergillus oryzae has been determined. However, there is no available information what part of the sequence encodes glucose dehydrogenase.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for efficiently producing the practically more advantageous enzyme for the blood glucose sensor. More specifically, it is the object to establish the method for stably producing glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae on a large scale by specifying, acquiring and utilizing a gene encoding the glucose dehydrogenase.

For accomplishing the above objects, the present inventors presumed and acquired a glucose dehydrogenase gene derived from Aspergillus oryzae by utilizing database of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and found that glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae could be acquired from Escherichia coli using the gene.

According to the present invention, by utilizing the glucose dehydrogenase gene isolated from Aspergillus oryzae, it becomes possible to efficiently produce glucose dehydrogenase and acquire more practical glucose dehydrogenase.

Thus, the present invention comprises the following

[1] A gene composed of the following DNA (a), (b), (c) or (d):

(a) DNA composed of a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5;

(b) DNA composed of a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:8, comprising a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5 and intron;

(c) DNA which hybridizes with DNA composed of a base sequence complementary to DNA (a) under a stringent condition and encodes a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity; or

(d) DNA which hybridizes with DNA composed of a base sequence complementary to DNA (b) under the stringent condition and comprises a region encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity.

[2] A gene encoding the following protein (a) or (b):

(a) a protein composed of an amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4; or

(b) a protein composed of an amino acid sequence having one or more amino acid deletions, substitutions or additions (insertions) in the amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4, and having a glucose dehydrogenase activity.

[3] A recombinant vector comprising the gene according to any of [1] or [2].

[4] A transformant transformed with the recombinant vector according to [3].

[5] The transformant according to [4] wherein a host is Escherichia coli.

[6] A method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity, characterized in that the transformant according to [4] or [5] is cultured in a nutrient medium and the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is collected.

According to the present invention, it has become possible to efficiently produce glucose dehydrogenase. It has become easy to perform molecular biological improvement in order to obtain more practical glucose dehydrogenase.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In order to accomplish the above objects, the present inventors found a gene DNA presumed to encode glucose dehydrogenase (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as ATGDH) by utilizing the NCBI database.

A DNA (gene) composed of the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:1 is a genomic gene sequence comprising a DNA (gene) encoding glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae RIB40 strain, predicted from the NCBI database, where no intron has been eliminated.

A DNA composed of the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:2 is obtained by removing the intron from the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1.

The gene encoding a protein composed of an amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:3 indicates the entire sequence of a glucose dehydrogenase gene predicted from the NCBI database.

The present inventors predicted from Non-patent literatures 1 to 4 and the NCBI database that the DNA (gene) encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity derived from Aspergillus oryzae could be easily identified.

And further, they thought that it was also easy that a recombinant vector containing the gene was made, a transformant was made and a protein encoded by the gene expressed by the transformant was purified.

Although the amino acid sequence and the base sequence encoding flavin-binding glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae were not specified in the NCBI database, specifically, with reference to the methods described in Non-patent literatures 1 to 4 and publicly known technologies, the present inventors tried to culture Aspergillus oryzae, purify glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) from its culture supernatant using various chromatography methods, make a probe by analyzing its terminal amino acid sequence and isolate the gene encoding the glucose dehydrogenase.

Likewise, the present inventors tried to isolate the gene encoding glucose dehydrogenase by independently obtaining a microorganism belonging to genus Aspergillus terreus.

Although the present inventors studied variously, it was found that it was difficult to obtain a GDH preparation with high purity whose band could be clearly identified on SDS-PAGE from the culture supernatant of Aspergillus oryzae TI strain by ordinary purification methods using salting out and chromatography methods. It was speculated that sugar chains supposed to be bound to the enzyme protein was one of causes to make the purification and identification difficult. Therefore, they determined that they had no choice but to give up the cloning utilizing the partial amino acid sequence, which was one of standard methods for acquiring the gene.

Thus, with many trials and errors, it was extremely difficult to acquire the gene, but as a result of an extensive study, the present inventors isolated the gene encoding the flavin-binding glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae and completed the present invention.

Its detail will be described later in Examples 1 to 3.

One embodiment of the present invention is a method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity characterized by culturing a transformant transformed with a recombinant vector comprising a gene composed of any DNA of the following (a), (b), (c) and (d) or a gene encoding a protein of the following (e) or (f) in a nutrient medium and collecting the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity.

(a) DNA (gene) composed of a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5 indicates the entire sequence of DNA (gene) encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity derived from Aspergillus oryzae TI strain described later, identified by the present inventors.

(c) DNA (gene) which hybridizes DNA composed of the base sequence complementary to DNA composed of the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5 under the stringent condition and encodes the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is also included in the present invention.

(b) DNA (gene) composed of the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:8 is a genomic gene sequence comprising DNA (gene) encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity derived from Aspergillus oryzae TI strain described later, where no intron has been eliminated.

(d) DNA which hybridizes DNA composed of the base sequence complementary to DNA composed of the base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:8 under the stringent condition and comprises a region encoding the glucose dehydrogenase activity is also included in the present invention.

(e) The gene encoding the protein composed of the amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4 indicates the entire sequence of DNA (gene) encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity derived from Aspergillus oryzae TI strain described later.

(f) DNA (gene) encoding a protein composed of the amino acid sequence having one or more amino acid deletions, substitutions or additions (insertions) in the amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4 and having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is also included in the present invention.

Those skilled in the art can easily select the stringent condition by changing the temperature in the hybridization reaction and the washing and salt concentrations in a hybridization reaction solution and a washing solution. Specifically, the condition where the hybridization is performed in 6×SSC (0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M trisodium citrate) or 6×SSPE (3M NaCl, 0.2 M NaH₂PO₄, 20 mM EDTA 2Na, pH 7.4) at 42° C. and further the washing is performed with 0.5×SSC at 42° C. is included as one example of the stringent condition of the present invention, but the stringent condition is not limited thereto. Preferably, the condition where the hybridization is performed in 50% formamide, 6×SSC (0.9 M NaCl, 0.09 M trisodium citrate) or 6×SSPE (3 M NaCl, 0.2 M NaH₂PO₄, 20 mM EDTA 2Na, pH 7.4) at 42° C. and further the washing is performed with 0.1×SSC at 42° C. is included.

The DNA (gene) of the present invention can include those in which codon usage has been changed to enhance the expression of the GDH.

For example, the above GDH gene derived from Aspergillus oryzae is inserted into an expression vector (many vectors such as plasmids are known in the art), and an appropriate host (many hosts such as Escherichia coli are known in the art) is transformed with the expression vector. A water soluble fraction containing GDH can be yielded by culturing the resulting transformant, collecting microbial cells from the medium by centrifugation, disrupting the microbial cells by a mechanical method or an enzymatic method, e.g., using lysozyme and if necessary adding a chelating agent such as EDTA and a surfactant to solubilize. Alternatively, by the use of an appropriate host-vector system, it is possible to secret the expressed GDH directly in the medium.

A GDH containing solution obtained as the above could be precipitated by concentration under reduced pressure, membrane concentration, salting out treatment using ammonium sulfate or sodium sulfate or fractional precipitation using a hydrophilic organic solvent such as methanol, ethanol or acetone. The treatment with heat and isoelectric focusing treatment are also effective purification procedures. The purified GDH can also be yielded by performing gel filtration using an absorbing agent or a gel filtration agent, absorption chromatography, ion exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography. It is preferable that the purified enzyme preparation is purified to an extent that the enzyme is detected as a single band on electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

These can be carried forward in accordance with the following references.

(a) Tanpakushitsu Jikken Protocol Vol. 1, Functional Analysis Vol. 2, Structural Analysis (Shujunsha) edited by Yoshifumi Nishimura and Shigeo Ohno.

(b) Revised Tanpakushitsu Jikken Note, Extraction and Separation/Purification (Yodosha) edited by Masato Okada and Kaori Miyazaki.

(c) Tanpakushitsu Jikken no Susumekata edited by Masato Okada and Kaori Miyazaki.

Alternatively, the above procedures can also be carried forward by methods exemplified below.

The produced DNA having genetic information of the protein is transferred into the host microorganism by ligating to the vector.

As the vector, those constructed for gene recombination from a phage or a plasmid capable of independently replicating in the host microorganism are suitable. As the phage, for example, Lambda gt10 and Lambda gt11 is exemplified when Escherichia coli is used as the host microorganism. As the plasmid, for example, pBR322, pUC19, pKK223-3 and pBluescript are exemplified when Escherichia coli is used as the host microorganism. Among them, those such as pBluescript carrying the promoter capable of being recognized in Escherichia coli upstream of a cloning site are preferable.

The appropriate host microorganism is not particularly limited as long as the recombinant vector is stable therein and can independently replicate and a trait of a foreign gene can be expressed. For Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli W3110, Escherichia coli C600, Escherichia coli HB101, Escherichia coli JW109 and Escherichia coli DH5α can be used.

As the method for transferring the recombinant vector into the host microorganism, for example, when the host microorganism belongs to genus Escherichia, the method of transferring recombinant DNA in the presence of Ca ions can be employed, and further, an electroporation method may be used. Furthermore, commercially available competent cells (e.g., Competent High DH5α supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd.) may be used. When the yeast is used as the host, a lithium method or an electroporation method is used. When filamentous fungus is used, a protoplast method is used.

In the present invention, the method for yielding the gene encoding GDH includes the following methods. The predicted GDH gene can be found by using the information for a genomic sequence of Aspergillus oryzae. Then, mRNA is prepared from the microbial cells of Aspergillus oryzae and cDNA is synthesized. The GLD gene is amplified by PCR using the cDNA obtained in this way as the template, and the recombinant vector is constructed by binding and closing this gene and the vector at blunt ends or sticky ends of both DNA with DNA ligase. The recombinant vector is transferred into the host microorganism in which the vector can replicate, and subsequently, the recombinant microorganism containing the gene encoding GDH is obtained by utilizing a marker of the vector.

GDH in a large amount can be stably produced by culturing the microorganism which is the transformant yielded as the above in the nutrient medium. The transformant could be selected by searching the microorganism which has expressed the marker of the vector and the GDH activity simultaneously. For example, the microorganism which grows in a selection medium based on a drug resistant marker and generates GDH could be selected.

The base sequence of the GDH gene was decoded by a dideoxy method described in Science 214:1205, 1981. The amino acid sequence of GDH was deduced from the base sequence determined as the above.

As in the above, the once selected GDH gene in the recombinant vector can be easily transferred into another recombinant vector which can replicate in another microorganism by collecting the DNA which is the GDH gene from the recombinant vector carrying the GDH gene by restriction enzymes and PCR method and binding the DNA to another vector fragment. For the transformation of another microorganism with these vectors, the competent cell method by treating with calcium, the electroporation method and the protoplast method can be used.

The GDH gene of the present invention may be those having the DNA sequence so that a part of amino acid residues is deleted or substituted in the amino acid sequence after translation of the gene or so that other amino acid residues are added or substituted, as long as the protein encoded by the GDH gene has the glucose dehydrogenase activity.

As the method for modifying the gene encoding the wild type GDH, the typically performed technique to modify the genetic information is used. That is, DNA having the genetic information of the modified protein is made by converting the specific base in DNA having the genetic information of the protein or inserting or deleting the specific base. The specific methods for converting the base in the DNA include the use of commercially available kits (Transformer Mutagenesis Kit supplied from Clonetech; EXQIII/Mung Bean Deletion Kit supplied from Stratagene; QuickChange Site Directed Mutagenesis Kit supplied from Stratagene), or utilization of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.

For the culture of the host microorganism which is the transformant, a culture condition could be selected in consideration of nutritional physiological natures of the host. It is advantageous that the transformant is cultured in liquid culture in many cases and industrially ventilation stirring culture is performed. But, considering the productivity, it is more advantageous in some cases that the filamentous fungus is used as the host and a solid culture is employed.

As nutrient sources of the medium, those typically used for the culture of the microorganism can be widely used. Carbon sources may be carbon compounds capable of being assimilated. For example, glucose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, lactose, molasses and pyruvic acid are used. Nitrogen sources may be usable nitrogen compounds. For example, peptone, meat extracts, yeast extracts, casein hydrolyzed products, and bean cake extracted with alkali are used. In addition, phosphate salts, carbonate salts, sulfate salts, salts of magnesium, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese and zinc, particular amino acids and particular vitamins are used if necessary.

A culture temperature can be appropriately changed in the range in which the microorganism grows and produces GDH, and is preferably about 20 to 37° C. A culture time period is somewhat different depending on the condition, the culture could be terminated at an appropriate time period by judging the time to be right to reach the maximum yield of GDH, and the culture time period is typically about 6 to 48 hours.

A pH value in the medium can be appropriately changed in the range in which the microorganism grows and produces the GDH, and is preferably in the range of about pH 6.0 to 9.0.

The culture medium containing the microbial cells which produce GDH can be directly collected and utilized. However, in general, according to standard methods, when the GDH is present in the culture medium, a GDH-containing solution is separated from the microorganism microbial cells by filtration or centrifugation, and subsequently utilized. When GDH is present in the microbial cells, the microbial cells are collected from the culture by filtration or centrifugation, then disrupted by the mechanical method or the enzymatic method using lysozyme and if necessary the chelating agent such as EDTA and the surfactant are added to solubilize, and GDH is separated/collected as an aqueous solution.

The GDH-containing solution obtained as the above could be precipitated by concentration under reduced pressure, membrane concentration, salting out treatment using ammonium sulfate or sodium sulfate or fractional precipitation using the hydrophilic organic solvent such as methanol, ethanol or acetone. The treatment with heat and isoelectric focusing treatment are also effective purification procedures. The purified GDH can also be yielded by subsequently performing gel filtration using the absorbing agent or the gel filtration agent, absorption chromatography, ion exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography.

For example, it is possible to obtain a purified enzyme preparation by separating and purifying by gel filtration using Sephadex gel (supplied from GE Health Care Bioscience), or column chromatography using DEAE Sepharose CL-6B (supplied from GE Health Care Bioscience) or Octyl Sepharose CL-6B (supplied from GE Health Care Bioscience). It is preferable that the purified enzyme preparation is purified to the extent that the enzyme is detected as a single band on electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

In the present invention, the glucose dehydrogenase activity is measured under the following condition.

<Reagents>

50 mM PIPES buffer pH 6.5 (including 0.1% Triton X-100)

14 mM 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol (DCPIP) solution

1 M D-glucose solution.

A reaction reagent is made by mixing 15.8 mL of the PIPES buffer, 0.2 mL of the DCPIP solution and 4 mL of the D-glucose solution.

<Measurement Condition>

The reaction reagent (2.9 mL) is preliminarily heated at 37° C. for 5 minutes. The GDH solution (0.1 mL) is added and gently mixed, subsequently the change of absorbance at 600 nm is recorded for 5 minutes using a spectrophotometer controlled to 37° C. using water as a control, and the change of absorbance per one minute (ΔOD_(TEST)) is calculated from a linear portion of the record. The solvent in which GDH will be dissolved in place of the blinded GDH solution is added to the reagent mixture, and the change of absorbance (ΔOD_(BLANK)) per one minute is measured. The GDH activity is calculated from these values according to the following formula. One unit (U) in the GDH activity is defined as the amount of the enzyme which reduces 1 μM DCPIP for one minute in the presence of 200 mM D-glucose. Activity (U/mL)=[−(ΔOD_(TEST)−ΔOD_(BLANK))×3.0×dilution scale]/(16.3×0.1×1.0)

In the above formula, 3.0 represents a liquid amount (mL) of the reaction reagent+the enzyme solution, 16.3 represents a millimolar molecular absorbance coefficient (cm²/μmol) in the condition of measuring the present activity, 0.1 represents the liquid amount of the enzyme solution (mL) and 1.0 represents a light path length (cm) of the cell.

EXAMPLES

The present invention will be more specifically described below by Examples, but the present invention is not limited to the following Examples.

An outline of the procedure to acquire the GDH gene derived from Aspergillus oryzae described in Examples shown below is as follows.

In order to acquire the GDH gene derived from Aspergillus oryzae, the purification of GDH from the culture supernatant of Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus terreus was tried using salting out, chromatography and the like, but it was difficult to yield GDH with high purity (Example 1 [1])

Therefore, we had no choice but to give up the cloning utilizing the partial amino acid sequence, which was one of standard methods to acquire the gene.

Thus, we searched GDH-producing microorganisms other than the above microorganisms, and as a result of an extensive study, we found that Penicillium lilacinoechinulatum NBRC6231 produced GDH, and succeeded to yield the purified enzyme with high purity from the culture medium of this fungal strain (Example 1 [2]).

Subsequently, we succeeded to determine the partial amino acid sequence using the above enzyme, partially acquired the GDH gene derived from P. lilacinoechinulatum NBRC6231 by PCR based on the determined amino acid sequence and determined its base sequence (1356 bp) (Example 1 [3] and [4]).

Finally, based on this base sequence, the GDH gene derived from Aspergillus oryzae was presumed (Example 1 [5]) from the published database of Aspergillus oryzae genome, and it was acquired.

Example 1 Estimation of Glucose Dehydrogenase Gene Derived from Aspergillus oryzae (Hereinafter Sometimes Abbreviated as “AOGDH”)

[1] Acquisition of GDH Derived from Aspergillus oryzae

Aspergillus oryzae obtained from soils and stored as dried microbial cells according to standard methods was used. This is referred to as Aspergillus oryzae TI strain below.

Aspergillus oryzae TI strain was restored by inoculating its dry microbial cells in the potato dextrose agar medium (supplied from Difco) and incubating at 25° C. Fungal threads restored on the plate were collected including the agar, which was then suspended in filtrated sterilized water. In two 10 L jar fermenters 6 L of a production medium (1% malt extract, 1.5% soy bean peptide, 0.1% MgSO₄.7H₂O, 2% glucose, pH 6.5) was prepared and sterilized by autoclave at 120° C. for 15 minutes. After cooling, the above fungal thread suspension was inoculated, and cultured with ventilation and stirring at 30° C. The culture was stopped 64 hours after the start of the culture, and a filtrate containing the GDH activity was collected by removing the fungal threads by filtration. Low molecular substances were removed from the collected supernatant by ultrafiltration (molecular weight 10,000 cut off). Then, ammonium sulfate was added at 60% saturation to perform ammonium sulfate fractionation. The supernatant containing the GDH activity was collected by centrifugation, adsorbed to the Octyl-Sepharose column, and eluted with ammonium sulfate having the gradient from 60% saturation to 0% to collect fractions having the GDH activity. The resulting GDH solution was applied onto the G-25 Sepharose column to perform the salting out. Ammonium sulfate was added at 60% saturation thereto. The mixture was adsorbed to the Phenyl-Sepharose column and eluted with ammonium sulfate having the gradient from 60% saturation to 0% to collect fractions having the GDH activity. The fraction having the GDH activity was heated at 50° C. for 45 minutes, and then centrifuged to yield the supernatant. The solution obtained from the above steps was made a purified GDH preparation (AOGDH). In the above purification process, 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5) was used as the buffer. In order to determine the partial amino acid sequence of the AOGDH, the further purification was tried using various procedures such as ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography, but no purified preparation capable of being subjected to the partial amino acid sequencing could be obtained.

Also, we independently searched and obtained the microorganism belonging to Aspergillus terreus, and likewise tried the purification from its culture supernatant by the salting out and the Octyl-Sepharose, but no purified preparation capable of being subjected to the partial amino acid sequencing could be obtained as was the case with Aspergillus oryzae. Typically, using the purification methods commonly used, it is possible to obtain the protein preparation with high purity detected as a clear single band on SDS-PAGE. However, the GDH preparation at such a level could not be obtained. It was speculated that one of its causes was the sugar chain thought to be bound to the enzyme protein. Therefore, we had no choice but to give up the cloning utilizing the partial amino acid sequence of the protein, which was one of standard methods to acquire the gene.

[2] Acquisition of GDH Derived from Filamentous Fungus Belonging to Genus Penicillium

A purified preparation detected to be nearly uniform on SDS electrophoresis was acquired by using Penicillium lilacinoechinulatum NBRC6231 as the GDH producing fungus derived from the filamentous fungus belonging to genus Penicillium and performing the culture and the purification according to the same procedure as in the case with the above Aspergillus oryzae.

[3] Preparation of cDNA

For Penicillium lilacinoechinulatum NBRC6231, according to the above methods, the culture was carried out (but, the culture in the jar fermenter was performed for 24 hours), and the fungal threads were collected by filter paper filtration. The collected fungal threads were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen, and disrupted using Cool Mill (supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd.). The total RNA was immediately extracted from disrupted microbial cells using Sepasol RNA I (supplied from Nacalai Tesque) according to the protocol of this kit. mRNA was purified from the resulting total RNA using Origotex-dt30 (supplied from Daiichi Pure Chemicals Co., Ltd.), and RT-PCR with this as the template was performed using ReverTra-Plus™ supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd. A resulting product was electrophoresed on agarose gel and a portion corresponding to a chain length of 0.5 to 4.0 kb was cut out. cDNA was extracted from a cut out gel fragment using MagExtractor-PCR&Gel Clean Up supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd. and purified to use as a cDNA sample.

[4] Determination of GDH Gene Partial Sequence

The purified GDH derived from NBRC6231 was dissolved in Tris-HCl buffer (pH 6.8) containing 0.1% SDS and 10% glycerol, and partially digested by adding Glu specific V8 endoprotease at a final concentration of 10 μg/mL thereto and incubating at 37° C. for 16 hours. This sample was electrophoresed on 16% acrylamide gel to separate peptides. Peptide molecules present in this gel were transferred on a PVDF membrane using the buffer for blotting (1.4% glycine, 0.3% Tris and 20% ethanol) by semi-dry method. The peptides transferred onto the PVDF membrane were stained using a CBB staining kit (GelCode Blue Stain Reagent supplied from PIERCE), two band portions of the visualized peptide fragments were cut out and internal amino acid sequences were analyzed using a peptide sequencer. The resulting amino acid sequences were IGGWVDTSLKVYGT (SEQ ID NO:9) and WGGGTKQTVRAGKALGGTST (SEQ ID NO:10). Based on this sequence, degenerate primers containing mixed bases were made, and PCR was performed using the cDNA derived from NBRC6231 as the template. An amplified product was obtained, and was detected as a single band of about 1.4 kb by agarose gel electrophoresis. This band was cut out, and extracted and purified using MagExtractor-PCR&Gel Clean Up supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd. The purified DNA fragment was TA-cloned using TArget Clone-Plus, and Escherichia coli JM 109 competent cells (Competent High JM109 supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd.) were transformed with the resulting vector by heat shock. Among transformed clones, for colonies in which an insert had been identified by blue-white determination, the plasmid was extracted and purified using MagExtractor-Plasmid by miniprep, and the base sequence (1356 bp) of the insert was determined using plasmid sequence specific primers.

[5] Estimation of AOGDH Gene

Based on the determined base sequence, the homology was searched on the home page of “NCBI BLAST” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/BLAST/), and the AOGDH gene was estimated from multiple candidate sequences in consideration of the homology to publicly known glucose oxidation enzymes. The homology of the AOGDH estimated from the search to the GDH partial sequence derived from P. lilacinoechinulatum NBRC6231 was 49% at an amino acid level.

Example 2 Acquisition of AOGDH Gene and Introduction into Escherichia coli

For obtaining the AOGDH gene, mRNA was prepared from the microbial cells of Aspergillus oryzae TI strain, and cDNA was synthesized. Two oligo DNA represented by SEQ ID NOS:6 and 7 were synthesized, and the AOGDH gene was amplified using the prepared cDNA as the template and using KOD Plus DNA polymerase (supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd.). A recombinant plasmid was constructed by treating the resulting DNA fragment with Nde I and Bam H I and inserting it into Nde I-Bam H I sites in pBluescript (the Nde I site had been introduced to match a Nde I recognition sequence ATG to a translation initiation codon ATG of LacZ). Escherichia coli DH5a (supplied from Toyobo Co., Ltd.) was transformed with this recombinant plasmid. The plasmid was extracted from the transformant according to the standard method, and the base sequence of the AOGDH gene was determined (SEQ ID NO:5). As a result, it was found that the amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA sequence was composed of 593 amino acid residues (SEQ ID NO:4). GDH predicted from RIB40 strain registered in the database is composed of 588 amino acid residues (SEQ ID NO:3), suggesting that the GDH from RIB40 strain and the GDH from TI strain are different in amino acid residue number. For the gene, the sequence was identified using TI strain genomic DNA, and the gene flanking regions were identified using RACE method. It was suggested that RIB40 strain which was the database strain and TI strain were different in GDH gene sequence. Thus, using the recombinant plasmid containing TI strain GDH gene as the template, the recombinant plasmid containing the GDH gene sequence predicted from the sequence of the database RIB40 strain was made using QuickChange Site Directed Mutagenesis Kit (supplied from Stratagene), and the transformant was acquired. These transformants were cultured with shaking in a liquid medium (Terrific broth) containing 100 μg/mL of ampicillin at 30° C. for 16 hours. When the GDH activity was measured in disrupted microbial cell solutions, no GDH activity could be identified in the transformant having the GDH sequence derived from RIB40 strain whereas the high GDH activity of 8.0 Upper mL of the culture medium was obtained in the transformant having the GDH sequence derived from TI strain. The GDH activity in the culture supernatant of Aspergillus oryzae TI strain in Example 1 was 0.2 U/mL. These results suggested that the GDH gene predicted from the RIB40 database sequence did not function as GDH. So far as the gene sequences of TI strain and RIB40 strain were compared, it was thought that the partial deletion in the GDH gene sequence derived from RIB40 strain caused it.

Example 3

The Escherichia coli DH5α transformant having the GDH sequence derived from TI strain cultured in Example 2 was collected by centrifugation, the microbial cells were suspended in 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5), and then disrupted using French press to extract GDH. This was treated by the same procedure as in AOGDH purified in Example 1 to yield a purified enzyme preparation (rAOGDH). Its properties were compared with those of the AOGDH purified enzyme preparation.

[1] Substrate Specificity

When the blood glucose level is measured using a blood glucose sensor, it is required to use the enzyme specific for glucose not to lead to misdiagnosis. Thus, the reactivity of rAOGDH to various sugars was examined. The results are shown in Table 1. It was confirmed that rAOGDH and AOGDH exhibited the equivalent substrate specificity and did not act upon maltose to which reactivity was particularly problematic when the patient using transfusion used the sensor. TABLE 1 Aspergillus oryzae Recombinant AOGDH rAOGDH Glucose 100.0 100.0 Maltose 0.4 0 Fructose 0 0.2 Arabinose 0 0.3 Glycerin 0.1 0.2 Sucrose 0.1 0 Melezitose 0 0.5 Sorbose 0 0 Ribose 0 0.1 Maltotriose 0.2 0.2 Maltotetraose 0.7 0.2 Galactose 0.4 0.6 Mannose 0.8 2.1 Trehalose 0.5 1.0 [2] Maltose Degradability

Even if GDH itself used for the blood glucose sensor does not act upon maltose, when the component to degrade maltose into glucose is contained in the enzyme preparation, it potentially leads to the misdiagnosis. That is, it is extremely important that the component to degrade maltose is not contained in the GDH enzyme preparation. Thus, the contamination of the component to degrade maltose in the GDH enzyme preparation was examined. A test for the contamination of the component to degrade maltose was performed as follows. Maltose (8 mM, 50 μL) was added to 50 μL of each purified enzyme solution prepared at 10 U/mL, and reacted at 37° C. After the completion of the reaction, the concentration of glucose contained in the reaction solution was examined using Liquitec glucose HK test (supplied from Roche Diagnostics). A standard curve for calculating the glucose concentration was made by measuring glucose solutions for setting a standard coefficient (supplied from Wako Pure Chemical Industries Inc.). The results are shown in Table 2. TABLE 2 Reaction time Purified enzyme 30 sec 60 sec 3 min 10 min Free glucose AOGDH 7.10 7.15 7.37 7.89 concentration rAOGDH 0    0.030  0.005 0   (mM) (recombinant) Maltose AOGDH 89%  89%  92%  99%  degradation rAOGDH 0%   0.38%  0.06% 0%  ratio (recombinant)

In the AOGDH purified preparation, after treating at 37° C. for 30 seconds, 90% of maltose was already degraded into glucose, and after reacting for 10 minutes, nearly 100% maltose was degraded. Thus, the same measurement was performed using the preparation obtained by highly purifying AOGDH for the purpose of the analysis of the partial amino acid sequence in Example 1, but the activity to degrade maltose was identified. Meanwhile, in the rAOGDH preparation, even after treating at 37° C. for 10 minutes, the accumulation of glucose was not observed at all. Aspergillus oryzae has been utilized for fermentation industry from a long time ago, and has been known to produce sugar-related enzymes such as amylase and glucoamylase in large amounts. Thus, it is thought that it is extremely difficult to purify only GDH at high purity under such an environment.

From these results, it is thought that it is essential to use GDH prepared from the recombinant gene when GDH derived from Aspergillus oryzae is used for the blood glucose sensor.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention enables to produce glucose dehydrogenase derived from Aspergillus oryzae on a large scale by the use of recombinant Escherichia coli. By the present invention, it becomes possible to produce glucose dehydrogenase which does not act upon maltose in a broad sense and is suitable for the glucose sensor and the like. 

1. A gene composed of the following DNA (a), (b), (c) or (d): (a) DNA composed of a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5; (b) DNA composed of a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:8, comprising a base sequence described in SEQ ID NO:5 and intron; (c) DNA which hybridizes with DNA composed of a base sequence complementary to DNA (a) under a stringent condition and encodes a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity; or (d) DNA which hybridizes with DNA composed of a base sequence complementary to DNA (b) under the stringent condition and comprises a region encoding the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity.
 2. A gene encoding the following protein (a) or (b): (a) a protein composed of an amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4; or (b) a protein composed of an amino acid sequence having one or more amino acid deletions, substitutions or additions (insertions) in the amino acid sequence described in SEQ ID NO:4, and having a glucose dehydrogenase activity.
 3. A recombinant vector comprising the gene according to claim
 1. 4. A transformant transformed with the recombinant vector according to claim
 3. 5. The transformant according to claim 4 wherein a host is Escherichia coli.
 6. A method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity, characterized in that the transformant according to claim 4 is cultured in a nutrient medium and the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is collected.
 7. A recombinant vector comprising the gene according to claim
 2. 8. A transformant transformed with the recombinant vector according to claim
 7. 9. The transformant according to claim 8 wherein a host is Escherichia coli.
 10. A method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity, characterized in that the transformant according to claim 5 is cultured in a nutrient medium and the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is collected.
 11. A method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity, characterized in that the transformant according to claim 8 is cultured in a nutrient medium and the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is collected.
 12. A method for producing a protein having a glucose dehydrogenase activity, characterized in that the transformant according to claim 9 is cultured in a nutrient medium and the protein having the glucose dehydrogenase activity is collected. 